If I Had It to Do Over Again

I recently had the opportunity to speak to a small group of college seniors who are interested in careers in journalism or publishing. It was a good chance to reflect on how I got into this industry years ago as well as why someone might want to do so these days.

In 1990, I was beginning my last year of graduate school. I had begun to second-guess the career I was preparing for. So I did what lots of people did back then: I bought What Color Is Your Parachute? Then I did something I doubt a lot of people did: I not only read but also worked my way through all of the exercises in the book. (I don’t remember exactly why I needed to know what color my parachute was, but somewhere in the attic, I still have all those exercises.) This process led me to believe that I should look seriously at a career in book publishing.

So I began to do research to see what my options were.

As I prepared to speak to the seniors, I did some of the same kind of research. One thing I discovered (thanks to Publishers Weekly) is that ten years ago more than 75% of publishing employees reported that they were satisfied with their jobs; today that figure is barely more than 50%. However, even though only 50% of people working in the industry are satisfied with their jobs, 80% of them would recommend publishing as a career to a recent graduate. If my math is right, that means 30% of them would recommend a line of work they do not themselves enjoy. I’m not sure what that means. Maybe that book publishing is a great career for journalism majors and English majors, but also for sadists. Maybe that 30% of the people in publishing think it would be a swell industry if they had a different job, boss, etc.

Anyway, as I said, back in 1990 I began to do research and also to contact those in my network of friends and acquaintances to see what was possible. What was possible, as it turned out, was an entry level editorial position at Thomas Nelson Inc., a publisher of inspirational books whose stock is traded on the NYSE. What we at Thomas Nelson attempt to do is pretty cool: “We inspire the world.”

At Nelson I have found plenty of challenges and opportunities for advancement, and on most days I love what I do. I am genuinely proud to work here, and I genuinely admire many of the people I work with. At dinner recently one of our authors was making the point that people these days can expect to shift jobs and even careers multiple times. I was the youngest person at the table. So, to illustrate his point, the author asked me how many companies I had worked for since I left college, and I said, uncomfortably, “Um, one.”

My point is not that everyone’s career path will be like that. (Maybe most people really do have 3 different careers and work for 7 different companies—or whatever the current stat is.) My point is simply that I am real live human being who has spent the past 14 years working in book publishing, and I have found it to be incredibly rewarding and very challenging. I recommended a publishing career to those college seniors. And I did it as a guy who is actually satisfied with his job.

If I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.